Seymour Jonathan Singer (May 23, 1924 – February 2, 2017) was an American cell biologist and professor of biology, emeritus, at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

Biography

Singer was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he earned his B.A. in 1943. He received his doctorate from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1947. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling ( ; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist and peace activist. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. ''New Scientist'' called him one of the 20 gre ...

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

during 1947–1948, where he, along with Harvey Itano, co-discovered the basis of abnormal

hemoglobin Hemoglobin (haemoglobin, Hb or Hgb) is a protein containing iron that facilitates the transportation of oxygen in red blood cells. Almost all vertebrates contain hemoglobin, with the sole exception of the fish family Channichthyidae. Hemoglobin ...

in sickle-cell anemia, reported in the famous paper " Sickle Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease". He worked for the U.S. Public Health Service between 1948 and 1950. He joined the Chemistry Department at Yale University as assistant professor in 1951, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1957 and Professor in 1960. There he developed the

ferritin Ferritin is a universal intracellular and extracellular protein that stores iron and releases it in a controlled fashion. The protein is produced by almost all living organisms, including archaea, bacteria, algae, higher plants, and animals. ...

-antibody, which was the first electron-dense reagent used for cell staining in electron microscopy imaging. He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

for Molecular & Cellular Biology in 1959. In 1961 he joined the faculty at

as a Professor in the Department (now Division) of Biology. He initiated the landmark work on the conformation of membrane proteins in 1965, resulting in the publication of two foundational papers (Lenard, John and Singer, S.J. Protein conformation in cell membrane preparations as studied by optical rotatory dispersion and circular dichroism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 56, 1828–1835, 1966; Lenard, John and Singer, S. J. Structure of membranes: Reaction of red cell membranes with phospholipase C. Science 159, 738, 1968). His seminal work on membrane proteins resulted in the development of the "

Fluid Mosaic Model The fluid mosaic model explains various characteristics regarding the structure of functional cell membranes. According to this Scientific model, biological model, there is a lipid bilayer (two molecules thick layer consisting primarily of Amphip ...

" of the

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extr ...

, published as "The Fluid Mosaic Model of the Structure of Cell Membranes", in ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' in 1972. He later made important discoveries on the interaction between the cytoskeleton and the cell membrane, resulting in, among other things, the identification of the cytoskeletal proteins vinculin and talin. Dr. Singer was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 1969, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1971, and held an American Cancer Society Research Professorship from 1976 to 1991. He has won awards including the E.B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology, and was a University Professor of the University of California, an honor awarded to only 41 members of the UC faculty since it was initiated in 1960, from 1988 until his retirement in 1995. In 2001, he published a book, '' The Splendid Feast of Reason'', regarding rationalism and the philosophy of science. He died in La Jolla on February 2, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Seymour Jonathan 1924 births 2017 deaths Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of California, San Diego faculty American cell biologists Yale University faculty New York University alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni Scientists from New York City